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An English athlete honored as the planet's most powerful female says she was robbed of her winning moment after it was revealed the original champion was a transgender woman who was not qualified to compete.

The British strongwoman was awarded the title retrospectively after American athlete the disqualified contestant was removed from competition.

The champion told sports media the competition, held in the Texas city of Arlington, was overshadowed by an individual who wasn't eligible to participate.

"I felt very disappointed and upset with what she's done," she stated. "She lied and was quite dishonest, and deprived a lot of things from a lot of women.

"The lady that came 11th didn't get the opportunity to compete in the final day... to have the elite ranking in the world."

Event coordinators, the competition body, said "participants could only participate in the category for their birth sex recorded at birth", and that they had eliminated the competitor in question "who is male by birth."

Event Details

Records indicate Booker participated in at least two other female strength competitions this year - winning the Rainier Classic in June and placing runner-up at the continental championship in July.

Sports media were unable to reach the athlete and the organization confirmed "an attempt had been made to get in touch with the competitor... but a reply had not been received."

Thompson, forty-three, eventually was declared the world's strongest woman for the second occasion, having earlier won the title in 2018.

But it was only following this season's event concluded that she learned her rival had been not qualified to compete.

"There existed nothing at all during the event - nobody had any reason to suspect anything," said the parent from East Anglia.

"It happened about six hours after that the initial speculation started circulating, and then the organisers contacted me.

"It's a significant achievement that's been marred by some deception."

Event Details

Strength contests have no single governing body, rather, independent groups organize a range of events.

The World's Strongest Woman championship is awarded at the Official Strongman Games, run by a UK-registered company.

More than four hundred athletes from nearly forty nations took part in this year's competition, which coordinators characterize as "one of the pinnacles of the strength world."

The Games featured events across multiple gender, body mass and years classifications.

Thompson and the American competitor were in the Women's Open division and participated in six events over three days, including the log press, frame carrying and deadlift ladder.

Rules and Qualifications

An announcement from the organization said: "Athletes are assigned to male or female divisions based on whether they are registered as male or female at birth.

"It appears that an athlete who is male by birth and who now identifies as female competed in the Women's Open division... officials were unaware of this fact prior to the event."

In 2023, Texas introduced a regulation banning "males by birth from participating with women competitors", although this only applies to college and university athletics in the region.

Thompson thinks female strength events may introduce gender verification in the coming years.

"I suppose it's going to have to go down that route... but our discipline is still quite new. There's not enough funding in it to have these procedures in operation. We depend on the integrity of the competitors."

Wider Sports Context

In the past few seasons, a increasing number of athletic organizations have prohibited competitors who have gone through puberty as males from competing in top-level women's events, amid concerns over equity and protection, including international swimming and track and field bodies.

In spring, major UK sports bodies were among a group of associations to implement similar policies, after the UK Supreme Court's decision that the legal definition of a woman is based on birth sex.

The moves have been challenged by transgender advocacy activists, who argue they could violate individual freedoms and insist participation should be prioritised.

Both global track and field and boxing organizations implemented chromosomal testing this season, asserting it is necessary to protect the integrity of female sports.

A representative from the global track organization has claimed that between 50 and 60 athletes who went through male puberty have been finalists in the women's division in global and continental athletics competitions since 2000.